


Extinction Burst

by attaccabottoni



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Conditioning, Dehumanization, Gen, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-03
Updated: 2015-12-03
Packaged: 2018-05-04 18:08:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5343512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/attaccabottoni/pseuds/attaccabottoni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky Barnes wants to stop being a ghost. The ghost wants to continue his work.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Extinction Burst

**Author's Note:**

> (Most of the actual violent content and the other tag warnings occur offscreen.)

"Your shirt looks like your bed sheet."

"What?"

"Look at it! It has the same pattern."

"Why would I wear something that looks like a bed sheet?"

"I dunno, why would you?"

They both catch each other's look and laugh. Steve continues to eat his steak, while Bucky's smile freezes on his face.

It is such a stupid thing to find funny. It is also telling that it has gone unsaid that Bucky's remark was referring to Steve's sheets back in the Thirties, when they shared an apartment, and therefore each other's laundry. Bucky doesn't actually know where Steve sleeps now. Oh, he remembers the address of Steve's DC apartment, and he knows that Steve's schedule sometimes has Steve crashing in the bunks here in the new Avengers HQ. And yet his brain had defaulted to a memory that he assumed was wiped along with other such details, now reinforced with the addition of the way Steve's eyes brightened in laughter.

Bucky is grateful and terrified.

 

* * *

 

 

"I used to think that the time I spent in ice cut out a part of me and kept it frozen in the past."

Days after that lunch in the cafeteria, Bucky is just about to escape to the roof deck in avoidance of writing post-mission forms, when his hand on the doorknob stops at the sound of Steve's voice.

"It took me a long time after I woke up to figure out that what I was feeling was like I was carrying my own tomb in my mind."

"Do you still think that?" Bucky's pounding heart quiets with his acknowledgment of Sam's presence. "That a part of you is dead?"

"I'm not sure."

"Steve--"

"But you're a great help, Sam. As is Natasha, and the team. I'm starting to feel more like I belong here, in the now."

Bucky is inching to bolt down the stairs, unwilling to be the haunting spectre from the graveyard, an intruder to the life going on around him. Before he could make a move, he heard the sounds of a sigh and shuffling footsteps towards his direction.

"I just wish I could help Bucky the same way."

"You might want to give him time--"

And that's when Bucky decides to swing the door open, maybe fueled with a half-mad notion of throwing himself off the building once he's alone again.

"If anyone asks," he says before Steve or Sam could comment on his sudden appearance, walking slowly towards the edge of the roof deck, "I am not hiding from submitting paperwork to the feral admin."

"What would you like them to think you are doing, then?" asks Sam with an amused grin.

"Some other inadvisable thing that I'm sure Steve has no trouble making up," replies Bucky airily.

"Bucky--"

"What?" Bucky pulls on a mask of irritability at Steve, who was no doubt about to lecture him on responsibilities and being a team player.

Steve's stomach chooses then to growl so loudly, the sound echoes even for normal human range of hearing. Sam laughs.

"I'll tell them you went to have a snack," Steve says instead, his ears pinking.

"How about I raid that third floor vending machine for chips?" Sam asks as he turns and heads to the door.

"I'll ask Clint if he still hasn't finished off those boxes of donuts," Steve says, falling into step with Sam

"Want anything in particular?" Sam addresses this to Bucky, who is not prepared for this turn of events.

And that's when Bucky ends up sitting on the parapet with a can of orange juice on his left hand while the Avengers have a spontaneous rooftop picnic. He's not even sure where they got a gingham checked cloth to fit the food and everyone sitting down on the floor.

"Hey." Bucky looks away from Wanda's attempt at making a tower by stacking grapes with magic, to Steve offering him a glazed donut.

"Thanks, and also for the save from submitting reports in triplicate."

"I guess that can wait," Steve replies ruefully.

Bucky looks up at the clear blue sky and wonders how he ended up here.

 

* * *

 

 

"At least you managed to escape this one with just one gunshot wound," Sharon says breathlessly as they limped away from yet another firefight with Rumlow.

"I'll try to do better," Steve replies, grimacing as the pain on his right side makes him lean more of his weight on Sharon's shoulders.

The whooshing air heralds Sam's arrival. He lands in front of them smoothly. "Cap, how are you holding up?"

"Just a graze, it will heal within the day." Steve glances around. "Where's Bucky?"

"We got separated just before the police sirens were within hearing distance," Sam replies calmly, but Steve can see the tension around Sam's eyes.

Sharon must have noticed too, because she says, "Let's wait for him to rendezvous with us in an hour. He wouldn't want you to worry, Steve."

"As much as I want to chase after Rumlow and give him another beatdown, we still have to get intel on where those bombs were going," Sam says.

"Our priority is pinpointing the location," Steve says grimly. "Let's hope Bucky has something."

 

* * *

 

 

"Either I shoot you in the foot, or you slide that knife under your toenails. You choose."

Whatever Steve is expecting to see when they arrive to find Bucky interrogating a HYDRA agent in their temporary safehouse, this is certainly nowhere near his imagination.

The black-clad blonde man sitting slumped in the corner of the basement starts sobbing in terror.

"Bucky!" Steve yells, rushing forward despite his injury and snatching the knife from the trembling hands of the HYDRA agent. "What are you doing?"

"You're failing to follow orders, Taylor," Bucky continues to address the HYDRA agent, not even acknowledging the presence of the others in the room. "Would you rather a bullet in both your kneecaps, then?"

"The bombs are planted around Philadelphia!" Taylor screams. "That's all I know!"

Steve barely hears Sharon whip out her phone and step back to call Natasha, still staring at the patient expression on Bucky's face and the relaxed way he is holding his gun at his side.

"Everybody, just take deep breaths for a minute here--" Sam starts to say.

"Please!" Taylor's streaming eyes is widened in hysteria.

Bucky shakes his head. "You will not be rewarded, Taylor. You have not earned it."

Taylor turns his face to Steve. "Give me back the knife!"

"What?" Steve then looks to Bucky, but he has turned his back without another word and is moving away.

"Hey, man," Sam says soothingly, walking slowly towards Taylor with his hands making a placating gesture. "Taylor, was it? Let's not make any sudden moves here. I'll just be putting cuffs on you for your own safety."

"It's the Winter Soldier," Taylor cries between heaving breaths. "I'll never be safe from him. Please give me your gun, so I can die."

"No need for any of that," Sam says quickly.

"We're moving out in two hours," Sharon says loudly, in a brisk tone that makes it seem like she's unaffected by what just happened. "The quinjet will take us to Philadelphia where the rest of the team will meet us."

"What about him?" Steve says numbly, gesturing at the cowering mess at the corner. Sam is convincing Taylor to uncurl so he could cuff the agent.

"Let me call the CIA," Sharon says, discomfort starting to show on her face as she shifts her gaze towards Bucky.

Bucky spreads out his weapons on the nearby table, sits down and starts cleaning them.


End file.
